Well I ambled over to the marsh on Sunday, i'd heard about the crake, but being a bit new to birdwatching and never having 'twitched' before I just thought i'd wander around to the hide and maybe get to see it on the off chance. I turned up to the hide just before 11 after first being entertained by the resident friendly Kestrel. I walked into the hide and there were suddenly shouts of 'there it is', I couldn't get near a window so just held back, resigned to not seeing it. after a while some guy, I didn't catch his name asked if anyone hadn't seen it, I quietly said 'I haven't' and he let me look through his scope which was centered on the crake in the reeds. Wow was all i could say, it gave me a warm feeling inside that I had seen it, that someone had been genorous enough to allow me to look through their scope and that I hadn't had to get up at the crack of dawn and wait for hours. it showed well for a couple of minutes and then headed back into the reeds. I would like to say a big thank you to the guy that showed me it and to announce that I think I am getting truly hooked on this birdwatching malarkey.
Jolly good. That's what we like to hear. Most birdwatchers are like that I have found. Unfortunately, as in most walks of life, you occasionally run into one or two who are a bit "up themselves" but you soon realise and they can be avoided. It's like learning to drive, most people remember that they were a learner once themselves and are very helpful.
Dave
Any Body seen the Crake today - 10th September??
I'm glad that you saw it, and I hope that you also saw some other good birds on the reserve (eg. there were some Hobbys showing very well as they hawked dragonflies in front of the hide from time to time).
I was one of the people with 'scopes in the hide and that time, so it could even have been my scope that you looked through (I had a Rainham Marshes RSPB baseball cap on). There were at least three others with 'scopes set up who let other birdwatchers look through them as well, two of whom I know, the other I've never met before.
Behaviour in the hide, even early in the morning, was great, and whenever the bird did show everyone seemed to do all that they could to try and help others to see the bird (which is actually fairly typical in cases like this).
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It's not just at twitches though, new birdwatchers should never feel that they shouldn't ask others for help with identifying a bird they aren't sure of for example, and if you are happy to tell people that you are new to birdwatching, and ask "is there anything around?" they will often be more than happy to help you to see whatever is on view at the time - including letting you look through their scopes.
It's true that you will occasionally come across less friendly birders, but don't let these few put you off asking for help from the friendlier majority!
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Blackwoodpecker48 said:Any Body seen the Crake today - 10th September??
It's been seen fairly regularly through the day today, although I haven't been back yet - will try again later in the week to see if I can get some photos.
It was there at about 2.15pm. Problem is it only appears every now again, often with several hours between and only briefly so unless you have a day to spare you could be unlucky - as I was between 3pm and 5.30 this afternoon.
Dave C said:Problem is it only appears every now again, often with several hours between and only briefly so unless you have a day to spare you could be unlucky - as I was between 3pm and 5.30 this afternoon.
Yes, when I said "fairly regularly" I should have made it clear that "fairly regularly" for a crake means that it's seen every now and then, often only briefly when it is seen.